Danny Wuerffel
Encyclopedia
Daniel Carl "Danny" Wuerffel (born May 27, 1974) is a former American college and professional football
American football
American football is a sport played between two teams of eleven with the objective of scoring points by advancing the ball into the opposing team's end zone. Known in the United States simply as football, it may also be referred to informally as gridiron football. The ball can be advanced by...

 player who won the 1996 Heisman Trophy
Heisman Trophy
The Heisman Memorial Trophy Award , is awarded annually to the player deemed the most outstanding player in collegiate football. It was created in 1935 as the Downtown Athletic Club trophy and renamed in 1936 following the death of the Club's athletic director, John Heisman The Heisman Memorial...

 and the 1996 national football championship while playing college football
College football
College football refers to American football played by teams of student athletes fielded by American universities, colleges, and military academies, or Canadian football played by teams of student athletes fielded by Canadian universities...

 for the University of Florida
University of Florida
The University of Florida is an American public land-grant, sea-grant, and space-grant research university located on a campus in Gainesville, Florida. The university traces its historical origins to 1853, and has operated continuously on its present Gainesville campus since September 1906...

. After graduating from Florida, he played for four National Football League
National Football League
The National Football League is the highest level of professional American football in the United States, and is considered the top professional American football league in the world. It was formed by eleven teams in 1920 as the American Professional Football Association, with the league changing...

 (NFL) teams, and retired from professional football in 2002. Since then, Wuerffel has led a non-profit organization
Non-profit organization
Nonprofit organization is neither a legal nor technical definition but generally refers to an organization that uses surplus revenues to achieve its goals, rather than distributing them as profit or dividends...

 engaged in Christian
Christian
A Christian is a person who adheres to Christianity, an Abrahamic, monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as recorded in the Canonical gospels and the letters of the New Testament...

 mission and charitable work in Alabama
Alabama
Alabama is a state located in the southeastern region of the United States. It is bordered by Tennessee to the north, Georgia to the east, Florida and the Gulf of Mexico to the south, and Mississippi to the west. Alabama ranks 30th in total land area and ranks second in the size of its inland...

, Florida
Florida
Florida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...

, Georgia
Georgia (U.S. state)
Georgia is a state located in the southeastern United States. It was established in 1732, the last of the original Thirteen Colonies. The state is named after King George II of Great Britain. Georgia was the fourth state to ratify the United States Constitution, on January 2, 1788...

 and Louisiana
Louisiana
Louisiana is a state located in the southern region of the United States of America. Its capital is Baton Rouge and largest city is New Orleans. Louisiana is the only state in the U.S. with political subdivisions termed parishes, which are local governments equivalent to counties...

.

Early life

Danny Wuerffel was born in Pensacola, Florida
Pensacola, Florida
Pensacola is the westernmost city in the Florida Panhandle and the county seat of Escambia County, Florida, United States of America. As of the 2000 census, the city had a total population of 56,255 and as of 2009, the estimated population was 53,752...

 in 1974, the son of a Lutheran minister who was a chaplain
Chaplain
Traditionally, a chaplain is a minister in a specialized setting such as a priest, pastor, rabbi, or imam or lay representative of a religion attached to a secular institution such as a hospital, prison, military unit, police department, university, or private chapel...

 in the U.S. Air Force
United States Air Force
The United States Air Force is the aerial warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the American uniformed services. Initially part of the United States Army, the USAF was formed as a separate branch of the military on September 18, 1947 under the National Security Act of...

. While he was growing up, he and his family lived in South Carolina
South Carolina
South Carolina is a state in the Deep South of the United States that borders Georgia to the south, North Carolina to the north, and the Atlantic Ocean to the east. Originally part of the Province of Carolina, the Province of South Carolina was one of the 13 colonies that declared independence...

, Spain
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...

, Nebraska
Nebraska
Nebraska is a state on the Great Plains of the Midwestern United States. The state's capital is Lincoln and its largest city is Omaha, on the Missouri River....

 and Colorado
Colorado
Colorado is a U.S. state that encompasses much of the Rocky Mountains as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of the Great Plains...

 before he attended Fort Walton Beach High School
Fort Walton Beach High School
Fort Walton Beach High School is a secondary school located in the center of Fort Walton Beach, Florida. Mrs. Charlene Couvillion is the current principal.since 2022...

 in Fort Walton Beach, Florida
Fort Walton Beach, Florida
Fort Walton Beach is a city in southern Okaloosa County, Florida, United States. As of 2005, the population estimate for Fort Walton Beach was 19,992, and as of 2010, the population estimate for Fort Walton Beach is 19,507 recorded by the U.S. Census Bureau...

. Wuerffel was a standout high school football
High school football
High school football, in North America, refers to the game of football as it is played in the United States and Canada. It ranks among the most popular interscholastic sports in both of these nations....

 and basketball
Basketball
Basketball is a team sport in which two teams of five players try to score points by throwing or "shooting" a ball through the top of a basketball hoop while following a set of rules...

 player for the Fort Walton Beach Vikings. In football, he led the Vikings to an undefeated season as a senior quarterback, while winning the Florida Class 4A state football championship in 1991 and earning the No. 2 national ranking in USA Today
USA Today
USA Today is a national American daily newspaper published by the Gannett Company. It was founded by Al Neuharth. The newspaper vies with The Wall Street Journal for the position of having the widest circulation of any newspaper in the United States, something it previously held since 2003...

. Wuerffel was widely considered the top high school football recruit in the state of Florida, and USA Today's high school player of the year in Florida during his senior year . He graduated from high school as his class valedictorian
Valedictorian
Valedictorian is an academic title conferred upon the student who delivers the closing or farewell statement at a graduation ceremony. Usually, the valedictorian is the highest ranked student among those graduating from an educational institution...

.

College career

Wuerffel accepted an athletic scholarship
Athletic scholarship
An athletic scholarship is a form of scholarship to attend a college or university awarded to an individual based predominantly on his or her ability to play in a sport...

 to attend the University of Florida in Gainesville, Florida
Gainesville, Florida
Gainesville is the largest city in, and the county seat of, Alachua County, Florida, United States as well as the principal city of the Gainesville, Florida Metropolitan Statistical Area . The preliminary 2010 Census population count for Gainesville is 124,354. Gainesville is home to the sixth...

, where he played quarterback for head coach Steve Spurrier
Steve Spurrier
Stephen Orr Spurrier is an American college football coach and player. Spurrier is the current head coach of the University of South Carolina's Gamecocks football team. He is also a former professional player and coach...

's Florida Gators football
Florida Gators football
The Florida Gators football team represents the University of Florida in the sport of American football. The Florida Gators compete in the Football Bowl Subdivision of the National Collegiate Athletics Association and the Eastern Division of the Southeastern Conference...

 team from 1993 to 1996
1996 Florida Gators football team
The 1996 Florida Gators football team represented the University of Florida in the 1996 NCAA Division I-A football season. This was the team's seventh season under head coach Steve Spurrier...

. One of the most decorated players in Florida's football history, Wuerffel won the 1996 Heisman Trophy while quarterbacking the Gators to the Bowl Alliance
Bowl Alliance
The Bowl Alliance was an agreement among college football bowl games for the purpose of trying to match the top two teams in a national championship bowl game and to provide quality bowl game matchups for the champions of its member conferences...

 national championship with help from teammates Fred Taylor at running back, Reidel Anthony
Reidel Anthony
Reidel Clarence Anthony is a former American college and professional football player who was a wide receiver in the National Football League for five seasons in the 1990s and early 2000s...

, Ike Hilliard
Ike Hilliard
Isaac Jason "Ike" Hilliard is a former American college and professional football player who was a wide receiver for twelve seasons in the National Football League during the 1990s and 2000s. He played college football for the University of Florida, and thereafter, he played professionally for...

 and Jacquez Green
Jacquez Green
D'Tanyian Jacquez Green is a former American college and professional football player who was a wide receiver and punt returner in the National Football League for five seasons in the 1990s and early 2000s...

 at wide receiver, and Jeff Mitchell
Jeff Mitchell
Jeffrey Clay "Jeff" Mitchell is a former American college and professional player who was a center in the National Football League for nine seasons during the 1990s and 2000s...

 on the offensive line. He led the Florida Gators to four consecutive Southeastern Conference
Southeastern Conference
The Southeastern Conference is an American college athletic conference that operates in the southeastern part of the United States. It is headquartered in Birmingham, Alabama...

 titles between 1993 and 1996, and the 1996 national championship, won in decisive fashion (52–20) over the archrival Florida State Seminoles
Florida State Seminoles football
The Florida State Seminoles football team represents Florida State University in college football. The Florida State Seminoles compete in NCAA Division I-FBS and are members of the Atlantic Division of the Atlantic Coast Conference...

 at the 1997 Sugar Bowl
1997 Sugar Bowl
The 1997 Sugar Bowl was the 63rd edition to the annual game. It featured the top ranked , and their heated rivals, the third ranked Florida Gators. It was the designated National Championship Game for the 1996-97 season by the Bowl Alliance. The match up was supposed to feature the top two teams...

 in New Orleans, Louisiana
New Orleans, Louisiana
New Orleans is a major United States port and the largest city and metropolitan area in the state of Louisiana. The New Orleans metropolitan area has a population of 1,235,650 as of 2009, the 46th largest in the USA. The New Orleans – Metairie – Bogalusa combined statistical area has a population...

. He is the only Heisman Trophy recipient to also receive the Draddy Trophy
Draddy Trophy
The William V. Campbell trophy, formerly the Vincent dePaul Draddy Trophy, is a trophy awarded by the National Football Foundation that is given to the American college football player with the best combination of academics, community service, and on-field performance...

, which is presented annually by the National Football Foundation and the College Football Hall of Fame to the nation's top football scholar-athlete. Wuerffel was also a first-team Academic All-America
Academic All-America
Academic All-America program is a student-athlete recognition program...

n in 1995 and 1996.

Wuerffel was a first-team All-American in 1995
1995 College Football All-America Team
The 1995 College Football All-America Team is composed of the following All-American Teams: Associated Press, United Press International, Football Writers Association of America, American Football Coaches Association, Walter Camp Foundation, The Sporting News and Football News.The College Football...

 and a consensus first-team All-American in 1996
1996 College Football All-America Team
The 1996 College Football All-America Team is composed of the following All-American Teams: Associated Press, Football Writers Association of America, American Football Coaches Association, Walter Camp Foundation, The Sporting News and Football News....

. He received the Sammy Baugh Trophy
Sammy Baugh Trophy
The Sammy Baugh Trophy is awarded annually to the nation's top college passer. The award is named in honor of former Texas Christian University and Washington Redskins quarterback "Slingin' Sammy" Baugh. The trophy has been given out by the Touchdown Club of Columbus since 1959...

 in 1995, the Davey O'Brien Award
Davey O'Brien Award
The Davey O'Brien Award, officially the Davey O'Brien National Quarterback Award, named after Davey O'Brien, is presented annually to the collegiate American football player adjudged by the Davey O'Brien Foundation to be the best of all National Collegiate Athletic Association quarterbacks. The...

 in 1995 and 1996, and the Johnny Unitas Golden Arm Award
Johnny Unitas Golden Arm Award
The Johnny Unitas Golden Arm Award is given annually in the United States to the nation's outstanding senior quarterback in college football. It was established in 1987 by a foundation named for Johnny Unitas , the Hall of Fame quarterback who played his college career at the University of...

 in 1996, and was named the Quarterback of the Year by the Touchdown Club of Columbus in 1996. His Gators teammates picked him as the squad's most valuable player in 1995 and 1996; his coaches chose him as one of the Gators' team captain
Captain (sports)
In team sports, a captain is a title given to a member of the team. The title is frequently honorary, but in some cases the captain may have significant responsibility for strategy and teamwork while the game is in progress on the field...

s. He was named to The Gainesville Sun
The Gainesville Sun
The Gainesville Sun is a newspaper published daily in Gainesville, Florida, United States, covering the North-Central portion of the state. It is a part of the New York Times Regional Media Group. The paper is published by James E...

s Florida Gators Team of the Century in 1999 and was chosen the century's top Gator offensive player by the Sun, and also a member of the Florida Gators 100th Anniversary Team, which was chosen in 2006.

He finished his Gator career by completing 708 of 1,170 passes for 10,875 yards with 114 touchdown passes, the best in SEC history and second-most in major college history. His career pass efficiency rating of 163.56 was the best in major college history and his percentage of passes which went for a touchdown (9.74) ranked first in collegiate history. In 1995, his efficiency rating of 178.4 set a single-season collegiate record. During his Heisman-winning season of 1996, he completed 207 of 360 passes for 3,625 yards (an SEC record at the time) for thirty-nine touchdowns (leading the nation) and his efficiency rating of 170.6 made him the first quarterback to ever post a rating of 170 or better in back-to-back years.

Wuerffel graduated from the university with a bachelor's degree
Bachelor's degree
A bachelor's degree is usually an academic degree awarded for an undergraduate course or major that generally lasts for three or four years, but can range anywhere from two to six years depending on the region of the world...

 in public relations, and was inducted into the University of Florida Athletic Hall of Fame as a "Gator Great" in 2006.

Statistics

YearCompAttComp %PassingTDINT
199315927358.222302210
199413221262.31754189
199521032564.632663510
199620736057.536253913

Career stats at Florida

Most Pass Attempts
  • Career : 1,169
  • Season : 360 (1996)
  • Game : 50 (1993) at Auburn


Most Pass Completions
  • Career : 708
  • Season : 210 (1995)
  • Game : 29 (1995) vs. Tennessee


Most Pass Yards
  • Career : 10,875
  • Season : 3,625 (1996)
  • Game : 462 (1996) vs. Arkansas

Professional career

The New Orleans Saints selected Wuerffel in the fourth round of the 1997 NFL Draft
1997 NFL Draft
The 1997 NFL Draft was the procedure by which National Football League teams selected amateur college football players. It is officially known as the NFL Annual Player Selection Meeting. The draft was held April 19–20, 1997. No teams elected to claim any players in the supplemental draft that...

, and he played for the Saints for three seasons from to . After playing a single season for each of the Green Bay Packers
Green Bay Packers
The Green Bay Packers are an American football team based in Green Bay, Wisconsin. They are members of the North Division of the National Football Conference in the National Football League . The Packers are the current NFL champions...

, Chicago Bears
Chicago Bears
The Chicago Bears are a professional American football team based in Chicago, Illinois. They are members of the North Division of the National Football Conference in the National Football League...

 and Washington Redskins
Washington Redskins
The Washington Redskins are a professional American football team and members of the East Division of the National Football Conference in the National Football League . The team plays at FedExField in Landover, Maryland, while its headquarters and training facility are at Redskin Park in Ashburn,...

, Wuerffel retired. One highlight of his professional career was winning the MVP
Most Valuable Player
In sports, a Most Valuable Player award is an honor typically bestowed upon the best performing player or players on a specific team, in an entire league, or for a particular contest or series of contests...

 award in World Bowl
World Bowl
The World Bowl was the American football Championship game of NFL Europe, similar to the Super Bowl of the National Football League.The World Bowl trophy itself was a globe made of glass measuring 35.5 cm in diameter and weighing 18.6 kg .-World League of American Football:When NFL Europe was...

 2000 while playing for Rhein Fire
Rhein Fire
The Rhein Fire was a professional American football team in NFL Europe, formerly the World League of American Football. Established in Germany in 1995, the franchise resurrected the name of the former Birmingham Fire team which was active during the 1991-1992 WLAF seasons.-History:The team was...

 in NFL Europa, the Fire winning by 13–10 over the Scottish Claymores
Scottish Claymores
The Scottish Claymores were an American football team from Scotland. The franchise played in the World League of American Football between 1995 and 2004, initially playing all home games at Murrayfield Stadium, Edinburgh and latterly sharing home games with Hampden Park, Glasgow...

).

Life after the NFL

Wuerffel began work at Desire Street Ministries, a non-profit faith-based organization focusing on spiritual and community development in one of the poorest areas of New Orleans. He also speaks to college groups, such as the University of Florida Fellowship of Christian Athletes
Fellowship of Christian Athletes
The Fellowship of Christian Athletes is a non-profit interdenominational Christian organization founded in 1954 and that has been based in Kansas City, Missouri since 1956. It falls within the tradition of Muscular Christianity. Although established by evangelical Protestants, the concept has...

. In 2004, Wuerffel co-authored a book called Tales from the Gator Swamp, in which he covers his college football career at Florida.

For his exemplary achievements on and off the field, the All Sports Association of Fort Walton Beach created the Wuerffel Trophy
Wuerffel Trophy
The Wuerffel Trophy is an award given annually by the All Sports Association of Fort Walton Beach, Florida to the college football player "who best combines exemplary community service with athletic and academic achievement." It is named for Heisman Trophy winner Danny Wuerffel, a former football...

 in his honor in 2005. It is to be awarded annually to the athlete who best exemplifies the character and play on the field that Wuerffel achieved. Due to his student-athlete accomplishments, moral integrity, and spiritual inspiration, a small stretch of road between the Mid-Bay Bridge and Highway 98 in Destin has been dedicated as Danny Wuerffel Way by the Florida state legislature.

Hurricane Katrina
Hurricane Katrina
Hurricane Katrina of the 2005 Atlantic hurricane season was a powerful Atlantic hurricane. It is the costliest natural disaster, as well as one of the five deadliest hurricanes, in the history of the United States. Among recorded Atlantic hurricanes, it was the sixth strongest overall...

 destroyed Wuerffel's New Orleans home and the Desire Street Ministries facilities. He made national news with his calls to action and plans to rebuild Desire Street Ministries and New Orleans.

On September 30, 2006, Wuerffel was inducted into the Gator Football Ring of Honor
Gator Football Ring of Honor
The Gator Football Ring of Honor is the University of Florida's alternative to retiring a player's number and pays homage to the greatest former players and coaches. Physically, it is a ring displayed on the North Endzone façade of Ben Hill Griffin Stadium, displaying the names of the players and...

 alongside his former coach Steve Spurrier
Steve Spurrier
Stephen Orr Spurrier is an American college football coach and player. Spurrier is the current head coach of the University of South Carolina's Gamecocks football team. He is also a former professional player and coach...

 and two other Gator legends, Jack Youngblood
Jack Youngblood
Herbert Jackson "Jack" Youngblood, III is a former American college and professional football player who was a defensive end for the Los Angeles Rams of the National Football League for fourteen seasons during the 1970s and 1980s. He was a five-time consensus All-Pro and a seven-time Pro Bowl...

 and Emmitt Smith
Emmitt Smith
Emmitt James Smith, III is a retired American football player who was a running back in the National Football League for fifteen seasons during the 1990s and 2000s. Smith played college football for the University of Florida, where he was an All-American; thereafter, he played professionally for...

.

In June 2011, The Gainesville Sun
The Gainesville Sun
The Gainesville Sun is a newspaper published daily in Gainesville, Florida, United States, covering the North-Central portion of the state. It is a part of the New York Times Regional Media Group. The paper is published by James E...

 reported that Wuerffel was suffering from Guillain–Barré syndrome, a disorder of the nervous system
Nervous system
The nervous system is an organ system containing a network of specialized cells called neurons that coordinate the actions of an animal and transmit signals between different parts of its body. In most animals the nervous system consists of two parts, central and peripheral. The central nervous...

, and was undergoing treatment for it.

See also

  • 1995 College Football All-America Team
    1995 College Football All-America Team
    The 1995 College Football All-America Team is composed of the following All-American Teams: Associated Press, United Press International, Football Writers Association of America, American Football Coaches Association, Walter Camp Foundation, The Sporting News and Football News.The College Football...

  • 1996 College Football All-America Team
    1996 College Football All-America Team
    The 1996 College Football All-America Team is composed of the following All-American Teams: Associated Press, Football Writers Association of America, American Football Coaches Association, Walter Camp Foundation, The Sporting News and Football News....

  • Florida Gators
    Florida Gators
    The Florida Gators are the intercollegiate sports teams that represent the University of Florida located in Gainesville, Florida. The "Lady Gators" is an alternative nickname sometimes used by the Gators women's teams...

  • Florida Gators football, 1990–1999
  • List of Chicago Bears players
  • List of Florida Gators football players
  • List of Green Bay Packers players
  • List of Heisman Trophy winners
  • List of New Orleans Saints players
  • List of SEC Most Valuable Players
  • List of University of Florida alumni
  • List of Washington Redskins players

External links

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